Covering topics on religion, philosophy and life, this blog attempts to make biblical truths simple for the average believer. As porridge is soft to aid digestion, so the blog contents are easily understood.
However, there is also meaty stuff for those who aspire to go deeper. The relevance of the Bible in our daily life (areas such as finances, sex, marriage, health and emotional healing) is also dealt with.

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Wednesday, 13 February 2013

LENT AND VALENTINE’S DAY

This year, Valentine’s
Day follows hot on the heels of Lent. What is the significance of these two
occasions? Should Christians celebrate Valentine’s Day?

Lent
is a period of about forty days of solemn observance by Christians of many
denominations in the run up to Easter celebrations. Ash Wednesday, which falls
on 13th February this year, marks the beginning of Lent.

What
do Christians do during Lent? It is a time devoted to self-examination, prayer,
repentance, fasting and self-denial.

Incidentally,
Valentine’s Day, which falls on 14th February every year, follows
hot on the heels of Lent this year.

Whereas
Lent has a spiritual ring to it, Valentine’s
Day is a pagan festival in
celebration of romantic love – a time when lovers show their love for one
another by splurging on expensive gifts such as chocolates and bouquets.

The
former is devoted to enhancing our vertical
relationship through soul-searching whereas the latter is an attempt to build
our horizontal relationship with the
one we truly love and care.

The
former is marked by discipline and
self-denial whereas the latter is marked by a carefree spirit and often excessive spending.

Is
it alright for Christians to join their friends to celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Since the Bible does not say definitely whether it is right or wrong, we will have
to examine the roots of the celebration as well as its practices.

Valentine’s
Day does not have deep-rooted, dark spiritual connotations like pagan feasts or
Halloween.*Since it is positive in that it seeks
to build the relationship between spouses or lovers, believers should not be
barred from celebrating Valentine’s Day.

It
is up to the individual Christian to decide whether he or she should
participate in Valentine’s Day in light of the following references:

“All
things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful
for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Corinthians 6:12).

“To
the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing
is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:15).

“Do
not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with
things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human
commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom,
with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment
of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (Colossians
2:21-23).

We
need to act based on our personal convictions – with the help of the Holy
Spirit – after having searched through scripture. We do not need man-made laws
or moral policemen to tell us what to do.

The
caveat is that believers should practisemoderation:
We should not go overboard in our spending on gifts or use the occasion as a licence
for sexual immorality – if the couple is not married yet.

While
a romantic evening over candlelight dinner is permissible, fornication is clearly
wrong in God’s eyes. The couple should pray; be determined in setting limits to
their level of intimacy before it passes the ‘point of no return’.

If
Lent draws us closer to our Creator – makes us more grateful to Christ for what
He has done for us at the cross – and Valentine’s Day draws couples closer to
one another, we should welcome both these occasions though they are so markedly
different.

*“St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical
celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. The most
popular martyrology associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned
for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for
ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire.” –
source: Wikipedia.